Dissociative Identity Disorder is a condition where a person displays more than one identity or personality. In other words, there is more than one person living inside the body
Symptoms
The person clearly shows radically different personalities, each with a different identity - in the movie, Sybil had sixteen different personalities, each with a different name and age and personality
Pranoia
Unexplainable headaches or other body pains
In the case of Sybil in the movie, she had "blackouts," where she would not remember the non-Sybil life and think she has "waken up" after long time
Flashbacks of traumatic experiences
Unexplainable phobias
Causes
The disorder is linked to traumatic experience
It can also be caused by insufficient childhood nurturing, which was definitely the case for Sybil
The patient has an innate ability to "dissociate" memories from experiences
Usually the patients have been sexually abused as a child
After the traumatic experience, the patient splits the memory and develops a subconscious as a different persona
Treatments
The goal of the treatment of the Dissociative Identity Disorder is to "put together," as Dr. Wibur says, the different personalities back
Psychotherapy or medication can be used
In the movie, the doctor treats Sybil using psychotherapy, by talking to all the different identities to understand the situation and then comforting and accepting each one (rather than denying) but at the same time questioning the different identities about the relation
What I learned
I had never actually seen a patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder, so I did not know that the symptoms were this serious. It was almost frightening to see the different characters in Sybil, all of which clearly had its own strong identity. I didn't know that the person could name each one and give each one a different age either. I was also surprised that Sybil had two male self identities. From this movie, I also learned that Dissociative Identity Disorder is strongly related to traumatic childhood experiences. I thought it was more of a personality issue, but it is a serious illness.
Why I chose this film
I chose this film mostly because I was curious about Multiple Personality Disorder. I thought it would be interesting to see how a stressful childhood would lead to devastating results. Another reason for choosing this film includes that it was not very violent
Assessment of Work
Use of class time 5/5
Reason for grade: I followed the class directions and was on schedule. I chose and found a link for the movie on the first day, and then started watching on the second class.
Depth of work done 14/15
Reason for grade: I believe I have done a pretty good job of researching although it wasn't the most thorough investigation on the causes and treatment of. the disease.
What I learned 5/5
Reason for grade: I have really learned a lot from this project. I'm glad that I chose a topic that I didn't study or know about before.
Wikispace's attractiveness 5/5 Reason for grade: I think the wiki is well organized and easy to see, because I used bullet points and clear headings.
Total 29/30
Sybil (1976)
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Top Ten Scenes from Movie
Dissociative Identity Disorder (aka Multiple Personality Disorder)
Symptoms
Causes
Treatments
What I learned
Why I chose this film
Bibliography
Assessment of Work
Use of class time 5/5
Reason for grade: I followed the class directions and was on schedule. I chose and found a link for the movie on the first day, and then started watching on the second class.
Depth of work done 14/15
Reason for grade: I believe I have done a pretty good job of researching although it wasn't the most thorough investigation on the causes and treatment of. the disease.
What I learned 5/5
Reason for grade: I have really learned a lot from this project. I'm glad that I chose a topic that I didn't study or know about before.
Wikispace's attractiveness 5/5 Reason for grade: I think the wiki is well organized and easy to see, because I used bullet points and clear headings.
Total 29/30